A garden is a luxury that should be taken advantage of for all occasions. Most people who own a garden with their home fail to realise its full potential. The majority of people are aware that the right garden furniture can allow you to enjoy your garden all year round and provide a place to sit and relax. Enjoying this space can, however, be realised further.

If you are frequent entertainers of friends and guests or like to throw family parties or gatherings, then more specific pieces of furniture would be ideal. Things like bar tables and stools are great for creating a sociable atmosphere. At Chic Teak we use quality teak to create our products and know that long lasting wooden furniture is the best choice. Our bar chairs and tables are brilliant for creating a holiday feel in your own home. They are perfect for cocktail parties, serving drinks and allowing guests to feel at ease.

When entertaining guests, if you are lucky enough to have a pool in your garden, we supply pool loungers that are great for allowing them to relax further. Although it is true that a lounger by the pool may not see much use in the colder autumn and winter months, they are ideal for the hotter weather when summer arrives. As they are made from water resistant, hard wearing teak they do not have to be brought inside in winter making life much easier when you or your guests want to use them.

With the weather gradually becoming warmer, what could be better than relaxing and enjoying the sunshine in your garden? It’s the perfect way to unwind after a long and stressful working week. In order to fully make the most of your outdoor space, you need the ideal, comfortable, stylish garden furniture. Although garden tables and chairs are great for socialising, when you want to relax, nothing beats teak steamers.

Teak steamers are not only beautiful, they are also incredible versatile. They are truly multi-purpose pieces of furniture. They can be laid flat to be used as a bench, or moved into the sunlight to be used as a lounger. Steamers look great on decking, by a pool, on the lawn and can even be moved into the conservatory or sun room when the weather takes a turn for the worse.

Teak is the perfect material for steamers to be made from. While plastic or metal furniture that has been left in the sun may feel extremely hot when you first sit on it, teak will always be at the perfect temperature, making it incredibly comfortable. Teak is also extremely durable, making it suitable to be left outside in all weathers.

Its natural oil content resists rot, and it will not be damaged by the effects of sun, rain, frost or snow. There’s also a huge variety of teak patio furniture available, meaning that your steamers could form part of a matching garden set.

Chic Teak are the UKs foremost purveyors of unique teak garden furniture, with over fourteen years experience in the business. Teak garden furniture sets are durable functional and beautiful, and will outlast and outperform plastic and metal alternatives, especially in the harsh and changeable climate of the United Kingdom. We have a fantastic selection of garden dining tables, garden chairs, wooden benches and so many more quality products which add that touch of class to your garden.

When we do get lovely weather in the United Kingdom, we definitely make the most of it as we appreciate the sunshine more than our neighbours in sunnier climes. However, we are often caught short when it comes to providing food, entertainment and comfort in our gardens. By the time we have dragged tatty deckchairs, ancient plastic tables and rusty barbecue sets from our lofts and garages, the opportunity has often passed and the rain sets in again.

However, by investing in some of our gorgeous teak garden furniture, you can rest assured that all you ever need to do when the sun breaks through the clouds is ensure that your fridge is stocked with food and drinks, your barbecue is primed and your friends’ numbers are on speed dial, an impromptu gathering is only minutes away. In fact, our garden umbrellas and garden furniture parasols will ensure that your barbecue continues in rain or shine. Chic Teak products are constructed from the highest quality teak wood gathered from eco-friendly sustainable plantations and made by master craftsmen in Indonesia, and we can deliver your purchases straight to your door anywhere in the UK.

The quality of the timber used to garden furniture sets is determined by much more than the type of tree it comes from, although of course that is very important. We choose to make teak garden furniture for some very good reasons. The natural oils contained in teak wood make it highly resistant to insect pests and rot caused by exposure to dampness or humidity. It’s outstandingly durable, hard and close grained for a lovely smooth finish. In fact, we think it’s the perfect wood for garden furniture sets.

However, there is a lot more to do when selecting timber for outdoor coffee tables and garden chairs than just choosing a type of tree. First, we opt to get out teak from sustainable plantations. None of our timber comes from the rainforest logging that is an unfortunate fact of the teak wood industry. By supporting the plantations, we’re helping put illegal and unethical rainforest loggers out of business permanently.

The Indonesian plantations that supply the teak used in our wooden garden furniture also provide a much needed and steady industry in Java, including good jobs for local people. They are government owned and run, so we know that certain standards are adhered to.  The teak shouldn’t be harvested too young- it is a slow growing wood and these plantations are long term investments- and of course we also care about the safety of plantation staff. Rainforest logging is a dangerous business for people as well as damaging to the environment.

When the trees destined to become Chic Teak garden furniture have been cut and the timber harvested at the right time and in the right way, it needs to be dried and properly aged. We monitor the process carefully to make sure of the best quality finished products.

We all love the sun and getting out into the garden with comfortable teak garden furniture is one of the best ways of enjoying the warmer months. However, too much sun is bad news. A little exposure each day is just fine and may even bring significant health benefits, but it’s all too tempting to spend a little too long in the sunshine at this time of year. Unfortunately, after the long cold summer, our skin is much more susceptible to burns and negative consequences of overexposure.

Sun cream is a great start, but you can also add an outdoor garden umbrella to your teak garden furniture set. That gives the adults a shady place to sit while the kids play, and the whole family an outdoor eating and entertaining area out of full sun.

The table doesn’t necessarily need to have a hole in the middle to be compatible with garden parasols. You can site it off to one side- we have plenty of free-standing models that are stable and generous in size. Our range of cantilever garden parasols have the supporting poles off to one side so the shady patches they create are uninterrupted. That also means you can place the pole against a wall or a tree to keep it out of the way.

Outdoor garden umbrellas can save the day if that day isn’t quite so sunny, and would be ideal for that barbeque you have planned. We also have a range of light gazebos that provide that much more shelter from sun or rain.

Since at least the Middle Ages in Europe and before that in China, teak has been used in ship building. Its durability and the natural oils distributed throughout its dense wood meant it would not rot or be bored by insects. The natural teak oil also creates a resistance to splitting and cracking caused by salt and wards off termites and other insects. The Chinese found that by burying teak in damp ground for several months, they could increase the wood’s strength and resistance to weather conditions.

The main advantage of teak for marine environments is its ability to prevent rust and corrosion when in contact with metal and that’s why teak is still used in the construction of ships and luxury yachts and boats.

From the Middle Ages onwards, ships that were no longer seaworthy were broken up and the teak wood was recycled into outdoor furniture. It is possible that the first outdoor teak benches were made of old ship decks. Teak wood is so durable that there are century-old teak park benches still in use today.

Teak boat photograph by jonrawlinson, used under a creative commons attribution licence

Teak is an extremely dense and coarse-grained hardwood that comes in three grades. It contains a high level of silica which causes rapid blunting of cutting edges and so it is a labour intensive wood to harvest. When freshly cut, the surface of the wood is dull in appearance, and the timber has a distinctive, pleasantly aromatic fragrance often compared to the smell of leather. Fresh sawn teak also has a distinctive slightly greasy feel due to the wood’s high oil content.

One of the most commonly quoted facts about the characteristics of teak is its durability. It is resistant to rot caused by fungal decay, and the high level of resinous oils distributed through the timber helps to act as a natural insect repellent – preventing attack by termites and other wood-boring insects. The timber is resistant to water and many chemical reagents, including acids. It does not have a strong reaction when it comes in contact with metals and recent research reveals that it contains 15 amino acids, a very high number for wood, some of which may be useful in medical applications as insecticides and antiseptics.

Because teak grain is coarse but the wood is dense, it creates interesting patterns which tend to be regular rather than random or fractal, which means the wood can be laid without distracting the eye, a very important point for sailors, navigators and gunners on marine vessels who needed a flat and uniform surface to calculate the sun’s angle or the right firing angle for a deck cannon.

Teak texture photograph by Laramie, used under a creative commons attribution licence

The biggest living teak tree in the world is located in Parambikulam Wild Life Sanctuary in the district of Palghat, Kerala, around eighty kilometres from the city of Nilambur. It is 47.5 m tall and has a girth of 642 cm.

Once you’ve seen the tree, find the world’s Teak Museum, which is about four miles away. It has been set up by the Kerala Forest Research Institute in collaboration with the Kerala Forest Department, and brings together historical, cultural and aesthetic and scientific aspects of teak.

The carved teak door at the entrance of the museum has a painting of the oldest living teak tree, the Kannimara teak. Among the several exhibits displayed, the root system of a mature teak tree is perhaps the most interesting of all. Paintings on the walls remind one of the early histories of teak planting. The miniature model of an antique sailing vessel made of teak wood and a painting of a sailing ship are the other attractions. Logs of a 116-year-old tree have also been preserved to see and touch, and most of the world’s literature on teak is available in the library.

Teak tree photograph by Aung, used under a creative commons attribution licence

Teak (Tectona grandis) grows in most areas between the Tropic of Cancer and the Tropic of Capricorn and can reach up to 150 feet tall. The trees have large, leathery, reddish green leaves that tend to be shed in the drier months of the year.

Teak was originally native to South East Asia and its natural distribution goes from the Indian subcontinent through Myanmar and Thailand to Laos. Research still hasn’t discovered if the famous teak stands in Indonesia are native or the result of early cultivation by the Hindu settlers, quite possibly as early as the seventh century.

Teak’s sap has anti-bacterial and anti-fungal properties that make it resistant to parasites and disease. Teak also contains rubber and silica, which repel water and give the harvested wood pliability, making it better able to withstand high pressure without cracking. This is combined with the fact that it is an extremely heavy wood, with dense fibres that make it relatively easy to cut and graft. The properties combine to make it one of the finest woods from which to construct outdoor furniture.

Teak seedling photograph by dsin, used under a creative commons attribution licence.

Teak is one of the most durable hardwoods for outdoor furniture and, without treatment, weathers to a beautiful silvery grey colour.

If you want to treat or clean your teak furniture to get rid of dirt build-up and the inevitable stains, this is how to do it:

1. Gently wipe down your teak furniture with a soft damp cloth, and then buff with a dry cloth.
2. Use only a soft scrubbing brush to wash your teak furniture. Never use steel wool or scouring pads and remember that hard bristles may scratch or damage your furniture.
3. Wash the furniture with a mixture of warm water and a mild soap.
4. Rinse your furniture with a hose and never use a pressure washer, which can damage the grain.
5. You can make a yearly application of sealant to protect the furniture from the elements.
6. Get to stains immediately after they occur, especially bird deposits which can either permanently stain or bleach your furniture.

Oiling teak photograph by ingorrr, used under a creative commons attribution licence.